1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having an intermediate transfer belt.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various kinds of image forming apparatuses which employ an image forming process of electrophotographic type or electrostatic recording type. Such various kinds of image forming apparatuses have therein photosensitive drums as image bearing members which are widely used in printers and copiers. Process units, such as a charging unit, an exposure unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, and a cleaning unit are provided in the vicinity of such a photosensitive drum. Also, a recording material conveying unit, a fixing unit, and the like, are provided in the apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 8, there is an example image forming apparatus, in which, when a toner image on an image bearing member 300 is to be transferred on a recording material, an intermediate transfer belt 301 bears a toner image transferred from an image bearing member (which is a device to allow the belt 301 to bear the toner image).
In many cases, the length of the intermediate transfer belt cannot be a certain length or smaller due to the condition of the maximum size of a recording material to be output from an image forming apparatus. If a main body of the apparatus is to be decreased in size, the length of the intermediate transfer belt may affect the overall dimensions of the main body.
In the above apparatus, the intermediate transfer belt is obliquely arranged, a photosensitive member is arranged slightly above the center of the intermediate transfer belt, and a developing unit is arranged above the photosensitive member.
With this configuration, it is difficult to decrease the size of the main body.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 8, if a waste-toner container 302 is provided only at an upper portion of a primary-transfer nip portion, for example, when a user opens a front cover to replace a developing device, light may enter, and a photosensitive drum may be exposed to the light, thereby generating a defective image.
Accordingly it would be advantageous to provide an image forming apparatus that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages described above.